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Study Finds Permafrost Thaw: Glacier Melt Releasing Methane

23.05.2012

A study, led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has found that methane from underground reservoirs is streaming from thawing permafrost and receding glaciers, contributing to the greenhouse gas load in the atmosphere. The study, published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, is the first to document leakage of deep geologic methane from warming permafrost and receding glaciers, said its lead author, Katey Walter Anthony. Release of methane into the atmosphere from any source is troubling because methane has far more potent greenhouse powers than carbon dioxide. Methane has more than 20 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide, University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers said.

 

Photo (c) Maki Aoyama / Flickr

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